I started the day with my rounds. No, I’m no medical doctor but my weekday mornings include making the rounds, stepping into classes to see what is going on, observing teaching and learning, or just enjoying the learning taking place. Today wasn’t so different except that it was Monday when most things begin.
I had made brief stops in one or two classrooms and decided to camp with the 5th graders who were just beginning their ELA class. As usual, they were enthusiastically speaking across the room, as they prepared to read their focus text, a non-fiction piece on tree kangaroos in Papua New Guinea. I know this boisterousness was typical because they are just across the room from my office so I hear their energetic and loud productive chatter every day without fail. Today was no different.
The ELA teacher, Mr. C started off by casting their minds back to their previous read which was about the “Bald Eagle.” The students shared facts and thoughts about the bald Eagle, and even a lingering question from a student for me, “Does the bald eagle have a natural predator?” The conversation moved on to tree kangaroos and many students wondered aloud what made these matschies different. “Were they scary?” We were about to find out from the text, or so I thought. Suddenly, we were talking about fear. I say suddenly because I cannot remember how we arrived at it. It may have been connected to the voiced question concerning the danger of tree ‘roos. And I do remember certain students bragging about their fearlessness. What followed was Mr. C describing a scenario with an Anaconda in class. He went on to paint a possible picture of students scampering to the windows, forcing a way out, in response to the fear of the Anaconda in the room. More retorts came with one especially noteworthy,
“When the Anaconda swallows a person it needs to stay for a couple of hours before it can take in another. So we will be fine, we will escape when that happens.”
And then the question followed, who will we sacrifice? They unanimously chimed in, “Mr. C!” I almost let out a chuckle but not before my name was called.
I gasped! “What! Why me?” Here I was thinking I was really liked by the students even though I didn’t teach them. And to think we’ve had such good times together, but without a second thought, they would offer me up as a sacrifice. Whew!
“You have lived your life, we haven’t even finished elementary school.” A boy in the back clarified, with the others giving affirming nods and grunts. Hmmm, that was some thought. Relieved, I smiled, thinking to myself that they had a point. All this was going on in my head while Mr C. was trying to argue his way out of being the sacrifice. His point, “I am not yet married and I haven’t had my kids.” The students had moved on! Their point was made. Yes I was liked, and so was their teacher, but their liking paled in comparison to their lives yet unlived, the imagined future ahead of them. These in their minds, we had experienced so it only made sense to sacrifice us, Mr. C and I.
I left the room before the lesson ended. With many more conversations as students engaged with the text. And yes, I still feel liked, but I know where I stand with them when push comes to shove, literally. At least there was some thinking to it.
This was no waste of instructional time. It was part of the beneficial process of building background knowledge. From research and classroom practice, it is common to see that for students to comprehend a text, a threshold of knowledge about the topic is needed. What better way to do this than to ask open-ended questions, explore, and guide students to think aloud as they answer a variety of topic-focused questions prior. I think in education we have all come to agree that the more you know about a topic, the easier it is to read a text, understand it and retain information. So even when your likability is in question like mine was today, don’t hesitate to help your learners extend and expand their background knowledge so reading and comprehension will flow smoothly. You can
- Teach words in categories
- Use analogies
- Encourage topic-wide reading and draw upon it in conversations
- Deliberately teach/unpack domain-specific vocabulary
In doing these-being intentional about background knowledge, you are helping students create meaningful mental models regarding what a text is about; helping them make intertextual linkages across subject areas, and generally improving their understanding of texts.
